you left out part of the parable...one of the studies determine that Toyota had on 2 classifications, navigators and oarsman...whereas the big 3 have 4 classifications within the oarsman classifications...you have left-hand front and rear and right-hand front and rear...and these postions are not allowed to cross the lines of demarcation.....so if there was a problem the canoe would be one short, causing the canoe to go in circles (production loss) until the right classification could be located. then if this involved overtime they had to go back to the equalization list in order to get the right oarsman....not the most qualified....then we have the navigators.....2 more classifications....one for daytime and the other for nights and of course everyone wanted nights because it paid a 10% premium...and since there were not too many canoeing trips at night the work load was a lot less...that gave them more time to sit around in the boat house, sleep, watch TV, work on home projects on company time...then it wasn't long before the big started comparing themselves to Toyota...losing race after race...so they approached the National Oarsman's Society about possibly reducing some of the classifications. ...no way....we are not going to change...we've been this way for 50 years there is no need change.... but Toyota only has one oarsman classification...we don't care...we're not really concerned with winning races...just as long as we protect our turf...besides if we lose enough races the government will step in to bail us out!